MasterChef's oldest evictee blames 'brain freeze'

MasterChef evictee Kumar Pereira has blamed a "brain freeze" for why he could only name four ingredients in a blind taste test of pork terrine, saying it is a dish he cooks all the time at home.

The 62-year-old design teacher missed out on making it into MasterChef's final top 10 contestants after last night's elimination round — in which competitors could only cook using the ingredients they were able to identify in the taste test.

"My brain just froze," the Sydney father-of-two told ninemsn.

"I'm a really visual person being a designer so I really couldn't come to grips with something I could only touch and taste."

The mental block was all the more frustrating as Pereira said he knows well the ingredients in pork terrine, a cold pate-like dish with chunks of meat and vegetables.

"I make it all the time [at home]," Sri Lanka-born Pereira said.

From the four ingredients Pereira guessed — pork, stock thyme and apple — he cooked herb-crusted pork with apple sauce.